Anthropogenic soil compaction is one of the main soil degradation processes in agriculture and forestry worldwide. Steadily increasing masses of machinery and their intensive use in agriculture and forestry increase the risk of harmful soil compaction, especially under unfavourable soil conditions.
Once a soil is compacted, reduced water infiltration, impaired plant and root growth and lower biological activity occur, whereas surface runoff, soil erosion and nutrient leaching increase. Among others, this influences the yield potential and yield security as well as the resilience to extreme weather events due to climate change.
Despite its importance, soil compaction receives relatively low awareness compared to other soil degradation processes such as soil erosion, which might be attributed to a reduced visibility of soil compaction. Deep ruts of the tyres may be recognisable at the soil surface, but surface smoothening by tillage and seedbed preparation will remove them. The effects of soil compaction in deeper soil layers are mostly invisible at all.
Within this session, we will focus on all aspects of soil compaction in agriculture and forests. This includes all methodological aspect (field work, laboratory analysis, sensor development, statistical analysis, and modelling), all spatial scales (from pedon to regional to continental scale) and all temporal scales (past, present, and future). Furthermore, applications and solutions for reducing soil compaction in agriculture and forestry are very welcome.
All researchers involved in soil compaction are warmly invited to attend this session.